


and the stadium roars to life

by orphan_account



Series: how to be a leader: a guide not by ryuji sakamoto [1]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Gen, I HAVENT PUT ANYTHING ON HERE IN SO LONG JESUS, i love the twins god help me, igor's just mentioned tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-11
Updated: 2017-06-11
Packaged: 2018-11-12 14:26:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11163753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: In which Ryuji loses his temper, Caroline somehow doesn't kill him for it, and a task.





	and the stadium roars to life

   The number pinned to his chest was stagnant, the rush of wind he was used to on real tracks non-existent. Walls of empty seats rose above him and blocked the sky, the dome’s lighting shading the entire arena an eerie shade of blue.

 

   Damn. Here’s another sleepless night under his belt, one he _really_ didn’t want to deal with currently. Exams were coming up and, seeing as studying wasn’t exactly his favorite thing to do, this almost guaranteed a complete failure on his end. The possibility of success fell to zero and, upon realizing this would probably get him reported in _some_ way made Ryuji drop to his knees and bury his face in the grass.

 

   A pathetic display, yeah, but it wasn’t like he was being watched right now. The creepy old guy with the long nose and the hell twins were probably talking up in the press box right now, leaving him far away from the screeching of--

 

   “GET UP!”

 

_Goddammit._

 

   Ryuji lifted his head, scowled leveled with that of one of the ever present referees that took some kind of sadistic pleasure in kicking his ass (at least, that’s what he thought). The glint of raw anger that fell over this little shit’s face when he didn’t give a better response was apparent in the air and, without further ado, Ryuji was knocked onto his back with a kick to his shoulder.

 

   “Hey, dumbass! I told you to _get up_ , so you better listen! Do you _want_ a penalty?”

 

   Frankly, with how the last penalty ended with him having to be frozen in his spot for the entire session instead of being allowed to pace as usual, he wasn’t looking forward to it. Grumbling under his breath, Ryuji climbed to his feet and stared down at Caroline, arms folded and eyes narrowed. “What’dya want now? I was, y’know, tryin’ to sleep since I don’t feel like _failing everything and getting sent to actual juvie_ ,” he questioned, bitterness evident in his tone and how he bent down just to get more in the referee’s face.

 

   This, naturally, earned him a whack to the face with the strap of her whistle and he recoiled. One hand rested on his cheek, lips out in a pout. When _she_ got in his face he wasn’t allowed to retort without punishment but if _he_ did it, God forbid, he’d get smacked around. Seriously, where’s the justice in all of this?!

 

   The other one (what were their names again…?) came up soon after, notebook rested in the crook of her elbow and pages pushed against her jersey. Did she even have anything written on it? He’s never seen her so much as pull out the pen within the spiral binding. “Caroline, please. If you continue to do that he will cease cooperating and make everything harder on us,” Justine commented, shooting a glance at Ryuji before attention returned to her twin.

 

   Caroline gave a sigh and roll of her visible eye, arms folded across her chest. “Fine. So long as he stays out of my face, I’ll restrict the lashings I’ll give him,” she muttered, clearly dissatisfied by the compromise. Justine turned her eye to Ryuji afterwards, giving a blank stare as if expecting him to automatically swear to an eternity of being kind. All she received was a raised brow, puzzled by whatever she was trying to imply.

 

   Justine simply shook her head and drummed her fingers against her notebook. “Good sportsmanship shows through when the opposing parties come to an agreement and shake on it. Caroline has promised to keep her distance and reduce punishment; return the favor by agreeing,” she instructed, directions met with a long, low sigh from Ryuji.

 

   “Fine. I’m sorry I got in your face and I won’t do it again,” he swore, one hand tentative to reach out for the others. The smaller hand gripped his own in what he could only describe as bone-crushing. Why the _hell_ did a little girl have the ability to break his hand?! (He realized that was a silly question moments after and was thankful it wasn’t one he asked out-loud lest he deal with the inevitable jeering he would receive).

 

   … Right, why was he here again? Usually he’d have been led up to the press box to talk to Igor at this point, but that hadn’t even happened yet. Ryuji spun on his heel upon pulling himself away from Caroline’s death-grip, hands stuffed into the pockets of his shorts as he stared up towards the top of the arena. The shadow was clear with how lights were tilted towards the field alone, so at least he was present. Attention returned to the twins, shoulders lax in spite of his continued worry about how exams would play out tomorrow.

 

   “So, uh. Does he wanna talk to me or did you two just drag my ass in here for shits and giggles?” he asked, praying for everyone’s sake that it was the former. If they had done it for the sole purpose of messing with him and his sleep cycle, hands were gonna be thrown (and he’d be six feet under, but that’s not on his mind currently).

 

   Justine chose to speak up first. “Caroline and I have a task for you. We want you to gather more masks and bring certain ones back. The only criterion are that it must be the one named and it must have the listed spell. It’s a simple test to ensure you know how to perform a negotiation properly. If you complete the mission, we will award you,” she explained, voice a near deadpan. The entire situation felt like a scene directly pulled from a RPG game except the beautiful princess was a tiny girl that could probably thrash him and the knight was him, the leader of a group (somehow).

 

   “... Aight, that doesn’t sound too hard. What’s the first one you want me to go after?” he asked. The response was that of tearing paper before a page was held out to him. The handwriting was pristine and easy to read, Ryuji’s fingers grabbing the edge and pulling it out of Justine’s hands. Eyes examined it for a moment, thankful there were choices present. “I can bring any of these back?”

 

   “All of them should be the same level of difficulty. I have another copy in case you lose that as well as being a way to check you haven’t brought a random Persona back,” Justice responded, notebook shut. “Regardless, it is time for you to return back to reality. Good luck on your mission.”

 

   A toothy grin flashed onto Ryuji’s face, entirely satisfied with being able to choose how he went about this. It wouldn’t be too hard, he figured, what with his teammates and a rather expansive portion of Mementos open to them. The paper was folded neatly into a square and shoved into his pocket. “Hell yeah! I’ll get this shit done no problem, just you watch!”

 

   The confidence brought a sharp grin to Caroline’s face, whistle caught between her teeth and the edge of her mouth. “You better not! If you’re going to be our star runner, you have to keep up the pace! Now get out there!” came her booming voice, punctuated at the end by the loud cry of the whistle.

 

   Ryuji sat up straight out of bed, the noise ringing deeply within his ear. A finger was jammed into it in a failed attempt to get the sound out, groan escaping his lips as the sunbeams fell onto his sheets.

 

   It was going to be a _long_ day, but at least he had one thing to look forward to in the end.

**Author's Note:**

> i love arcana swaps i'm sure as u guys will learn throughout this entire series


End file.
